North Korea Preps Hovercraft Assault Force

Sure, hovercraft are cool, but they’re not exactly the cutting edge of military technology, nor the most versatile vehicles in the world. Most navies only use them for niche missions.

But when your country is flat broke, starving and stuck with 1970s hardware, sometimes a little creativity is the only way to retain a military advantage. That might explain why the cash-strapped North Korean military is building a customized base for huge numbers of assault hovercraft, around 50 miles from a vulnerable South Korean island chain.

In any event, Pyongyang’s forward-deployed hovercraft force could represent a real threat against an unprepared South Korea — maybe. The new Japan Security Watch blog has all the details.

The new base, in the Koampo area of Hwanghae province on Korea’s west coast, can accommodate up to 70 of North Korea’s estimated 130 Kongbang-class hovercraft, armed with guns and together capable of carrying more than 2,000 soldiers. From Koampo, it’s just an hourlong ride — at hovercraft speeds — to the West Islands.

Pyongyang allegedly has a plan for conquering the islands. The idea? “To shell the islands with coastal artillery on a moonless night, render South Korean soldiers at military bases on the islands helpless, then take over the territory with soldiers landing on hovercrafts,” a source told South Korea’s JoongAng Daily.

This might seem rather, um, provocative. But in reality, a hovercraft-borne island invasion might not spark a full-blown war — and could even benefit Pyongyang in the short term.

North Korea, the columnist wrote, is on a “bad learning curve.” A hovercraft assault could represent the next lesson.

So, are the 70-foot-long Kongbang hovercraft really a serious threat? That depends. Amphibious assaults can be among the most perilous of military maneuvers — so perilous that the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps spend billions per year buying specialized ships, fighters, tilt-rotor transports, armored vehicles and, yes, hovercraft tailored for softening up and crossing defended beaches.

The hovercraft are fragile and lightly armed, so Pyongyang’s strategy depends on audacity and surprise — and on South Korean permissiveness. The Kongbang class wouldn’t stand a chance against an alert, adequately armed and well-trained defender.

But it’s not at all clear that South Korea is ready to repel the next provocation from the North, hovering or otherwise. “We must create battle-ready troops getting fully prepared to fight and win if the enemy provokes us again,” South Korea’s army chief said following Pyongyang’s artillery barrage last year. The implication, of course, is that Seoul’s troops aren’t currently prepared.

Beginning this year, Seoul vowed tougher and more realistic training exercises. There’s been no word whether the exercises include the “swarm of hovercraft bearing down on your island under cover of darkness” scenario.